Chapter 3 of The island is here in full — 38 sentences across 8 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter III
Chapter 3 of The island is here in full — 38 sentences across 8 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
FLIGHT. I was really running away now. It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face. Some instinct led me to Geneva. There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
Chapter 3 of The island is here in full — 38 sentences across 8 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/7 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
being in a state of proper equilibrium
From this reading “There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.”
examine so as to determine accuracy, quality, or condition
From this reading “There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.”
a city in southwestern Switzerland at the western end of Lake Geneva; it is the headquarters of various international organizations
From this reading “Some instinct led me to Geneva.”
plural of “hotel” — a building where travelers can pay for lodging and meals and other services
From this reading “There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.”
make believe with the intent to deceive
From this reading “It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.”
ordinary writing as distinguished from verse
From this reading “There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.”
(military) withdrawal of troops to a more favorable position to escape the enemy's superior forces or after a defeat
From this reading “It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.”
plural of “tourist” — someone who travels for pleasure
From this reading “There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “Some instinct led me to Geneva.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading I was really running away now.
being in a state of proper equilibrium
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
examine so as to determine accuracy, quality, or condition
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
the social process whereby societies achieve an advanced stage of development and organization
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
divisible by two
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
a formation of aircraft in flight
From this reading FLIGHT.
a city in southwestern Switzerland at the western end of Lake Geneva; it is the headquarters of various international organizations
From this reading Some instinct led me to Geneva.
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
plural of “hotel” — a building where travelers can pay for lodging and meals and other services
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I was really running away now.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
inborn pattern of behavior often responsive to specific stimuli
From this reading Some instinct led me to Geneva.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
a body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
diode such that light emitted at a p-n junction is proportional to the bias current; color depends on the material used
From this reading Some instinct led me to Geneva.
the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Some instinct led me to Geneva.
plural of “mountain” — a land mass that projects well above its surroundings; higher than a hill
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading I was really running away now.
literature in metrical form
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
make believe with the intent to deceive
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
ordinary writing as distinguished from verse
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
in accordance with truth or fact or reality
From this reading I was really running away now.
(military) withdrawal of troops to a more favorable position to escape the enemy's superior forces or after a defeat
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
(of fluids) moving or issuing in a stream
From this reading I was really running away now.
the state of being certain that adverse effects will not be caused by some agent under defined conditions
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading Some instinct led me to Geneva.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
plural of “tourist” — someone who travels for pleasure
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully
From this reading It was not retreat, but flight; useless to pretend that I was even looking civilisation in the face.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading I was really running away now.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading There would be safety, I thought, in its balanced poetry and prose, the mountains held in check by the tourists, the lake by the hotels.
Chapter 3 of The island by Richard Whiteing holds 38 sentences, grouped into 8 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 3 holds 38 sentences of The island, unabridged, divided into 8 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 3 of The island by Richard Whiteing exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 38 sentences, grouped into 8 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 8 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 8 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 3 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading The island by Richard Whiteing on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3120 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #73620 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #73620, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 260 minutes of reading across 624 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The island section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 27 chapters of The island to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in The island, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
